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Frank Black
Frank Black was a highly skilled criminal investigator within the FBI who had the gift to put himself into the killer's mind and imagine himself as the killer. He had frequent dealings with the Millennium Group after he moved to Seattle, Washington. (MM: "Pilot") He was the son of Henry and Linda Black, the brother of Thomas Black, the husband of Catherine Black and the father of Jordan Black. (MM: "Midnight of the Century", "Sacrament", "Pilot") :Although his daughter, Jordan, and his wife, Catherine, featured in most episodes of ''Millennium, his mother and father were only seen in "Midnight of the Century" and his brother only appeared in "Sacrament".'' Biographical Information Childhood & Teenage Years In 1941, Frank Black was born in Seattle, Washington to Henry and Linda Black. (MM: "Pilot", "Midnight of the Century") :"Walkabout" and "Goodbye to All That" give Frank Black's birth date as July 21, 1947. However, this is impossible as "Midnight of the Century" establishes that he was 5 when his mother died in 1946. It is more probable that this is an erroneous birth date. Frank was only 2 when his brother, Thomas, was born. Their uncle, Joe, was stationed in England and the family suspected that he would be a part of the Allied invasion. Nobody knew what date D-Day would begin but, at about 8:30pm on June 5, 1944, Frank and his family were sitting listening to a radio when his mother suddenly experienced a vision that the Allies were attacking, burst into tears and ran upstairs to another room. Her vision was indeed accurate and her brother, Joe, died in the first wave on the beachhead at Normandy. Frank retained little memory of this event, however. (MM: "Midnight of the Century") :The fact that he did not remember much from this period might have been due to his age at the time - Frank was only 3 when his mother saw the vision that Joe would die. Frank was aware that his parents and grandparents never locked their doors, day or night. (MM: "Wide Open") :Frank claims to remember this from "forty or fifty years" prior to 1996. ing with friends in 1946.]] In 1946, Frank was 5 and went trick-or-treating with three male friends. (MM: "Midnight of the Century", "The Curse of Frank Black") He was dressed up, as were his child companions, and wore large sunglasses. One of the houses that the boys visited was a creepy, old building belonging to a Mr. Crocell. In a garden at the front of the house, it was decided that one boy would go inside the house and would divide whatever he was given with the others, who would wait outside to call the police if he did not return in five minutes. One of Frank's friends apparently selected him by random. However, the boy who chose him first mistakenly selected himself. While Frank gazed mesmerized at Mr. Crocell's house, his friend touched him on the back and claimed that he had been chosen to venture inside the building. When Frank turned to look at his friend, the boy giggled and advised him not to become afraid as he would return. Frank inhaled a breath and swallowed before he cautiously wandered up a flight of steps to Mr. Crocell's door. He slowly knocked three times and waited for a reply. Soon, he saw a curtain on the other side of the door twitch and Mr. Crocell opened the door until a door chain on the other side tightened. Mr. Crocell blew out a puff of cigarette smoke and asked Frank why he was there. In a hesitant voice, Frank replied, "trick or treat". When Mr. Crocell asked if it was Halloween, Frank nodded in response. Mr. Crocell paused in silent thought. Although Frank offered to leave if Mr. Crocell had nothing to offer as a treat, he entered the house after Mr. Crocell told him to. Mr. Crocell looked down at Frank's three friends, who were still standing at the bottom of the steps, before closing his door. Inside his old home, Mr. Crocell explained the meaning of Halloween, and how, on Halloween night, the spirits of the dead reportedly returned to visit the living. A veteran of World War II who had lost many friends in battle, Mr. Crocell asked the young Frank if such a thing was possible. Frank responded that there were no such thing as ghosts. Mr. Crocell nodded, slipping further into depression, and offered Frank a cigarette as his "treat". (MM: "The Curse of Frank Black") Before December 25 of that year, Frank's mother moved out of the bedroom she had shared with her husband and frequently visited the room upstairs, where she drew pictures of little angels. Her claim that she was having visions disturbed Frank's father, Henry, although he believed her. Henry was also scared about Frank, realizing that he had a different sense that others didn't have that was similar but not exactly the same as the visions his mother was having. Frank's mother saw that she was about to die and relayed the news to Henry, who completely loved her and was angered by her revelation. He shouted at her and at Frank separately, attempting to convince them both that the visions they were having were nothing more than figments of their imaginations. Henry also refused to allow his wife a little angel ornament that she wanted to send away for. On December 24, Frank's mother finally gave in and claimed that she was no longer seeing angels. Henry was unaware at the time that his wife only wanted to ease his mind. On Christmas Eve morning, Frank helped his mother draw the last picture of an angel she would ever make. The finality of the situation made Henry surrender to his wife's wishes and he searched all day for the specific angel ornament she wanted, eventually finding one at a Woolworths store. Frank witnessed his mother open the gift that night. She was saddened when she realized what the present was and told Henry that her visions would never return as Frank watched. She kissed her husband goodbye before she hugged and kissed Frank and his brother, Tom. Later that night, Frank was sitting on the floor while his mother and father sat on chairs. Frank, at his young age, didn't understand what was happening as his mother wrapped herself in a dressing gown and headed upstairs with her arms crossed over her stomach, walking past Frank. He followed her closely and tried to attract her attention. At the bottom of the stairs, his mother finally turned and knelt down. Looking at her son with a saddened but loving expression, she caressed his face and then continued up the stairs. Frank turned and sat down at the bottom of the stairs, gazing up the flight of steps after her. At the last moment, he rushed upstairs but the door closed before he could follow his mother into the room where she had drawn the pictures of angels. She was alone in the room, as she had wanted to be, when she died. Like his loss of memory regarding his mother's first vision, Frank would also forget much of the night his mother died. He became estranged from his father, who would stay in the same house where his mother had died for the next 51 years. (MM: "Midnight of the Century") When he was a young boy, Frank had a friend called David Marx who also died. (MM: "Walkabout") :David Marx may have been one of the children who accompanied Frank when he went trick-or-treating in "The Curse of Frank Black". One Christmas, Frank was given a bike that his brother, Tom, had asked for. Frank watched as his brother excitedly jumped on the bike. However, Tom soon lost control of the bike and accidentally laid a long scrape down the side of their father's extremely expensive car. When their father came out of their house and saw the scratch, Frank lied that he had been the one who had scratched the car. His father beat him so bad that he couldn't sit down for a week. (MM: "Sacrament") Seattle Police Officer Frank worked Homicide in Seattle Police Department with Lieutenant Bob Bletcher and the two officers ultimately became friends. (MM: "Pilot") On several occasions, Lieutenant Bletcher noted that Frank was continuing work after everyone else had gone home. (MM: "Blood Relatives") :In the episode, Bob Bletcher sees Frank working late in Seattle Public Safety Building and remarks, "Like old times, huh? You're still here when everyone else has gone home". This might be an indication that Frank and Bletcher were based in the same building when they served in Seattle Police Department together. FBI Training and Early Career agent in 1977.]] By 1977, Frank had joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In that year, two bodies were found lying near one half of the same death card, which were used by soldiers in Vietnam to designate their kills. The week after the first two murders, two more bodies were discovered. Frank correctly believed that the murderer, known as the Death Card Killer, was actually Richard Alan Hance - a soldier who had returned from Vietnam that year. After the first four deaths, there was a lull in the killer's activities and the FBI consequently believed the murderer had went away. However, Richard Alan Hance resumed his murderous actions. The Seattle Police Department received an anonymous call regarding the Death Card Killer's whereabouts and found evidence that the murderer may have squatted in a condemned building but was long gone. After the police had finished inspecting the area, Frank and several FBI agents arrived outside the condemned building that night. They had been assigned to determine whether anything more could be learned from the killer's abandoned belongings. As rain beat down on their umbrellas, Frank stood with the agent in charge, who asked him if he was able to "get any feelings about this one". Frank replied that he believed the FBI had been provided with accurate information because the abandoned building was sufficiently isolated at night to resemble an urban version of the farm in Montana where Richard Alan Hance had killed his grandfather. The agent in charge then announced that, even though the building had been swept by the Seattle PD, there were still many places where the killer could be hiding. Frank and the other agents checked their weapons before the agent in charge told them to use caution and sent them into the building. The agents entered in pairs - Frank accompanied his partner, Agent Riley, and they were followed by another team consisting of Agents Johnson and Clark. Each agent had his gun drawn and was carrying a flashlight, using it to check every corner as they worked their way through the building. Johnson and Clark headed upstairs while Frank and Riley continued searching the first floor, room by room, with Frank leading the way. He soon discovered the remains of some food, including a can of Smeat - a canned meat product. Turning to Riley, Frank asked for cover before he holstered his gun, cautiously knelt down, picked up the can and smelled it. The odor was pungent and Frank realized that the food was decomposing. He estimated that the killer had been in the room less than forty-eight hours before. Referring to Frank's skilled detective work, Riley joked that he "must be great at parties" but Frank remained serious. He removed his gun from its holster and continued searching with his partner. Upstairs, Johnson and Clark became separated. Johnson found Clark's deceased body, which had been slit at the neck, and was attacked himself by Richard Alan Hance. The noise of Johnson falling to the floor alerted Frank and Riley to the commotion and they raced upstairs. They searched for Johnson and Clark, whose bodies had been hidden by the killer. Frank and Riley, who decided to separate in their search, were consequently unable to find Johnson and Clark. As Frank rounded a corner, he came face to face with Riley, who claimed he had almost mistakenly shot Frank in the dark. Frank admitted he was certain that the killer was nearby but Riley had made the mistake of assuming that Johnson and Clark were searching on the third floor of the building and relayed his assumption to Frank as if it were fact. Riley and Frank headed in separate directions, continuing their cautious search. Sensing something from inside one of the rooms, Frank turned back to Riley but he was already ascending a flight of steps to the building's third floor. Frank continued to enter the room and searched it. He heard a creak and realized the noise had come from a closed door in the room. When he opened the door, Johnson's body fell on top of him from inside, pinning him to the ground. Richard Alan Hance appeared as if from nowhere and placed his foot over Frank's right wrist. The pain of Frank's hand being crushed caused him to lose his grasp on his gun and he dropped the weapon on the floor. With a sharp-bladed knife, Hance slashed a line in Frank's right palm. Frank grimaced in pain and tried to stand up but the weight of Johnson's body atop him prevented his escape. Hance whispered "Joker" as he dropped a torn half of a playing card near Frank. Kneeling down close to Frank's face, Hance asked Frank, "Can you see what I see, FBI? Can you see your fear? Can you see what you really are?" The killer stood back up and was about to stab Frank when Riley entered the room and fired his gun, wounding the murderer. Hance returned fire, shooting Riley until his weapon was empty. Finally, Frank managed to escape from under Johnson's body. He picked up his own gun from off the ground and targeted the killer holding the weapon in his uninjured left hand. Frank ordered Hance to drop his gun but the murderer did not comply and continued to aim his weapon at Frank. The FBI agent cocked his gun at Hance, shouting at the murderer to "give him a reason" to fire. Eventually, the killer surrendered and slowly placed his gun on the floor. Slumped on the ground in pain, the murderer requested an ambulance and sniggered. Frank grimaced at the killer in anger and disgust. As Hance had taken the lives of Clark, Johnson and Riley, Frank believed he had almost been the second of a pair. For the rest of his life, he would bear a scar left by the knife wound. He would also keep a constant check on Richard Alan Hance, who was ultimately placed in Washington Correctional Center. (MM: "The Thin White Line") Frank moved to Washington, D.C. in 1986 and worked on sexual homicide cases for ten years, eventually becoming "a big star at the FBI". (MM: "Pilot") He also became a member of ViCAP, but later left the program. (MM: "Gehenna") :In the pilot episode, Frank says that he and his family have been living in Washington, D.C. for "ten years" prior to 1996. This could either be an accurate date or merely a rough approximation. :It is unclear exactly when Frank Black investigated sexual homicide cases, only that he was assigned to that task over an undefined stretch of ten years. :It is also unknown when Frank was a member of ViCAP, but it is possible that he left the program before retiring from the FBI. During this time, Frank's wife, Catherine, gave birth to a girl who they named Jordan. Because he or his wife had been diagnosed as being unable to concieve, Frank considered their daughter as being a miracle. (MM: "Pilot") In 1992, Frank worked as part of an FBI investigative team that included an agent named Ardis Cohen. The group attempted to catch a homicidal serial killer who murdered priests, although the team was unsuccessful. They did not know at the time that the killer was Galen Calloway, who, on September 29, 1992, was convicted of vehicular manslaughter related to driving under the influence of alcohol and was sentenced to five years in a state prison. Members of the FBI team incorrectly suspected that the unidentified murderer had simply stopped killing and they closed the case until further notice. (MM: "Kingdom Come") Later that year, Jake Waterston was wanted for kidnapping, raping and murdering three nurses in Newport News, Virginia. Frank chased the killer, but the man eluded capture. (MM: "The Wild and the Innocent") With other FBI agents, Frank investigated a serial killer named Ed Cuffle in Minnesota. The killer would take Polaroids of his victims which he would send to the police. After months of trying to catch Ed Cuffle, the FBI finally did so and he was sent to prison with triple life sentences. A year later, however, Frank was sent a letter with no return address that contained several Polaroids of his wife, Catherine, in various locations. (MM: "Pilot") He never discovered who had sent the pictures, but the numbness he had previously experienced concerning the unspeakable cruelty of the crimes he was investigating suddenly became paralyzing fear or understanding, having developed a kind of facility to see what a killer saw. (MM: "Pilot", "Gehenna") :In the pilot episode, Frank claims that he was paralyzed by fear. However, in "Gehenna", his wife makes a point of saying that he wasn't paralyzed by fear, but by understanding. Because the case had become personal, Frank went insane. (MM: "Dead Letters") He found it almost impossible to leave his house, convinced that he shouldn't go to work when he was incapable of protecting his own family. (MM: "Pilot") He was afraid to leave his wife alone and found it extremely difficult to let his daughter out of his sight, aware that her very existence was miraculous. (MM: "Gehenna", "Pilot") Frank's wife tried to help him remember that he was a good person but Frank would not hear her. (MM: "Dead Letters") :In "Dead Letters", Frank's wife tells him, "You didn't hear me back then", but she does not clarify which occasion she is referring to. However, it seems likely that Catherine Black was talking about Frank's breakdown, as many of the other references to his past in the early episodes of ''Millennium refer to that specific period.'' Frank was pushed into early retirement by his breakdown and left the FBI. (MM: "Pilot", "Gehenna") Consultant Frank finally managed to overcome his ordeal when a group of men approached him and helped him understand the nature of his ability to put himself into the killer's mind and imagine himself as the killer. These men told him they were from the Millennium Group, a consulting company, and Frank soon began working with them. In 1996, Frank moved back to Seattle with his wife, Catherine, who was also from Seattle, and their daughter, Jordan. Catherine had visited their new home at 1910 Ezekiel Drive before moving there, but Frank had since painted the house yellow. He met their new neighbor, Jack Meredith, and told him that he had returned to Seattle because he wanted to "come home and put some roots down". (MM: "Pilot") While he remained a private citizen, Frank went back to work because he had to - it had become a part of his identity. (MM: "The Judge", "Gehenna") He was reunited with his old friend, Bob Bletcher, and met Detective Bob Geibelhouse. The detective was aware that Frank had once caught a serial killer named Leon Cole Piggett, who had prepared his victims in a skillet with potatoes and onions before he ate them. :It is unclear whether Frank was working in Seattle or Washington, D.C. when he caught Leon Cole Piggett. Frank worked with Bletcher and Geibelhouse in an attempt to catch a murderer known as the "Frenchman". Millennium Group member Peter Watts introduced himself to Frank during this investigation and provided him with information on the case. One night in the Seattle Public Safety Building, Frank was attacked by the Frenchman. However, he was saved by Lieutenant Bletcher, who shot and killed the murderer. Shortly thereafter, Frank brought a puppy home with him that he gave to his daughter and opened a letter sent to him that contained Polaroids of his wife and daughter in various locations in Seattle. He realized that the person who had previously sent him Polaroids had followed his family and himself while they had relocated. (MM: "Pilot") FBI Consultant Later Life in 1999.]] In late 1999, Frank Black checked himself into the Hartwell Psychiatric Hospital in Woodbridge, Virginia. He initially intended to stay there for thirty days, but eventually ended up living there for several months. In late December of that year, FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully sought Black's help to catch a necromancer. Mulder knew Black only by reputation, as he was considered by many to be the best criminal profiler who attended Quantico. (TXF: "Millennium") Career History * 1966- Seattle Police Department, supervisor Bob Bletcher * 1977- FBI Academy student, instructor Mike Atkins * 1977-1995 FBI Agent, Violent Crimes Section, partners Agents Gilbert, Kane and Dixon * 1996-1999 Millennium Group candidate * 1998-1999 FBI Consultant, Violent Crimes Section, supervisor Assistant Director Andy McClaren, partner Emma Hollis Relationships Family Grandparents In 1996, Frank recalled that his grandparents had never locked their doors about fifty years before. (MM: "Wide Open") :Although Frank claims to remember that this was true of both his parents and grandparents "forty or fifty years" before 1996, his mother died on December 24, 1946, and at least some of his memories therefore must have originated before that date, about fifty years prior to his recollection. Henry Black Main article: Henry Black Linda Black Main article: Linda Black Thomas Black Main article: Thomas Black In 1943, Frank was aged two when his brother, Thomas, was born. They lived together with their parents at least until December 25, 1946, the day their mother died. (MM: "Midnight of the Century") Once, Thomas badly wanted a bike for Christmas. Although his father told him that he would definately not get the bike, Frank was given it as a gift on Christmas morning. He watched as Tom excitedly jumped on the bike. However, Tom accidentally scratched the bike against their father's car. When their father saw the scratch, Frank vouched for Tom and lied that he was the one who had scratched the car. In 1997, Tom and his wife asked Frank to serve as their newborn son's godfather. On February 4 of that year, Frank was present at the baby's baptism. When Tom's wife, Helen, went missing the same day, Frank searched for her with the help of the Seattle Police Department. Tom visited the Seattle Public Safety Building, where Frank worked. After his wife had been missing for nearly four hours, Tom became worried that the Seattle PD had no suspects yet but Frank assured him that the police were looking and believed that Tom was doing everything he could. The brothers then went to Frank's home at 1910 Ezekiel Drive. (TXF: "Sacrament") :The Season 3 Millennium episode "Seven and One" seems to complicate Frank Black's family line as he specifically states, for the first time, that he had more than one brother. This would seem to contradict an obituary seen in "Midnight of the Century" which clearly states that Frank's mother, Helen, was survived by two sons, Frank and Thomas. The only episode in which any of Frank's brothers appears is "Sacrament", which features Thomas Black. Jordan Black Main article: Jordan Black Catherine Black Main article: Catherine Black Colleagues and Mentors Mike Atkins Main article: Mike Atkins Bob Bletcher Main article: Bob Bletcher Bob Geibelhouse Main article: Bob Geibelhouse Andy McClaren Main article: Andy McClaren Emma Hollis Main article: Emma Hollis Millennium Group Members Old Man Main article: Old Man Peter Watts Main article: Peter Watts Lara Means Main article: Lara Means Enemies Lucy Butler Main article: Lucy Butler Background Information Frank Black was usually played by Lance Henriksen, but A.J. Adamson also appeared as younger versions of the character in the Season 2 Millennium episodes, "The Curse of Frank Black" and "Midnight of the Century", as well as the Season 3 episode, "Seven and One". Additionally, Shaun Toplass played Frank Black aged 14 years old in "The Curse of Frank Black". In February 1999, Chris Carter stated in an interview that he identified with Frank Black the most out of all the characters he had created. Appearances * Millennium all episodes except for: ** "Anamnesis" * TXF: ** "Millennium" Black, Frank Black, Frank Category:Black family